Regenstrief Hosts Entrepreneurs to Discuss Collaboration

Entrepreneurs from central Indiana joined Regenstrief Institute scientists for a venture forum, discussing ideas and innovations that could lead to collaborations to improve healthcare.

The meeting, hosted by Regenstrief and the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, focused on the topics of post-acute and elder care. Leaders from companies including Farris Health, Sherish, Diagnotes and OptiMed Hospitalists made presentations about their companies, getting feedback from researchers and other entrepreneurs. About two dozen people attended the discussion, including a few entrepreneurs from outside of Indiana.

“I wanted to come today to hear what everybody is working on,” said Molly Hale, director of marketing and communications for Diagnotes, which is based in Indianapolis. “I think as an entrepreneur working in a startup, we’re really busy focusing on our own product. It’s really refreshing to hear perspectives from other organizations.

“It’s also great to have the academic perspective as well as the practical startup perspective in one room.”

The meeting generated new dialogue between business leaders and researchers at Regenstrief. Participants saw a lot of potential for future partnerships.

“The knowledge we shared was really beneficial. What I’m looking forward to is following up on these conversations to figure out how we can work together and build something meaningful,” said Brian Ellis, co-founder of Farris Health in Indianapolis.

“I got a lot of ideas from the participants and would love to participate in a future event,” said Madhi Ajjan, M.D., a manager of OptiMed Hospitalist and physician from Charlotte, NC.

Kim Saxton, PhD, from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business said she was optimistic about future collaborations after the meeting, “After a session like today, I’m just so inspired at how many smart people are thinking about how to fix problems with healthcare so patients have more successful lives.”

“It was really interesting to get the perspectives of entrepreneurs who are out there fighting on the front lines and researchers who are part-time clinicians and academicians doing analytics. I look forward to mixing the two to see what happens,” said Luke Pittman, M.D., MBA, a family physician and co-founder of Life Sciences Ventures Launchpad.

Regenstrief hopes to keep the conversation with local entrepreneurs going. The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs is holding a discussion on March 14 at Regenstrief. The event is from 6-8 p.m.

Regenstrief Institute researcher and Indiana University School of Medicine professor Titus Schleyer, DMD, PhD, and Jason Schaffer, M.D., from IU Health, presented an update on the implementation of CareView during a Scottsdale Institute teleconference. CareView is a FHIR-based app that connects the Indiana Network for Patient Care with the Cerner EMR. It gathers information from…